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The Chair and ranking member of the State Senate Ways and Means Committee were interviewed by TVW’s Austin Jenkins last Thursday on what the options are for lawmakers to address the estimated $1 billion plus budget deficit. Among the questions Jenkins asked Sen. Ed Murray (D) and Sen. Joe Zarelli (R) were their thoughts on our proposal to provide the Governor with discretionary budget cutting authority:

The topic of whether a tax referendum would be put on the ballot also was discussed along with how that would be received by voters in light of state revenues still projected to increase by $2.1 billion:

On that topic, regardless of how you slice up a state’s taxes, there is no such thing as a recession proof tax structure. For budget peace of mind when the economy recovers, states need to use a “three-legged stool” of sound budgeting:

Meaningful spending limit to avoid overextending in the good times;

Protected 10% reserve account (so you don’t have to resort to tax increases or deep spending cuts in the bad times); and

Limiting base expenditures to core functions within the revenue forecast when in the good times

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Jason Mercier is Director of the Center for Government Reform at Washington Policy Center. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and is the private sector chairman of ALEC’s Fiscal Federalism Working Group. He is a contributing editor of the Heartland Institute’s Budget & Tax News, a columnist for SeattlePostGlobe.org, serves on the board of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, and was an advisor to the 2002 Washington State Tax Structure Committee. In June 2010, Governor Gregoire appointed Jason as WPC’s representative on her Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Panel. Jason holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Washington State University.